Fiume - The Lost River

When a chance meeting with a mysterious, yet familiar, ‘Stranger’ at a party in Sydney sets off a cycle of memories, Beatrice Szabo opens Pandora’s Box which she had kept under lock and key for over seventy years: she left her native town of Fiume eloping with a famous writer, an event that provoked a local scandal and broke hearts and souls of a few families for several generations. When Beatrice came to Vienna with her lover in the aftermath of the Second World War, she never dreamt that beautiful Vienna would not be her last destination. Under unfavorable circumstances she marries David Goldberg, a Viennese Jew; while the atmosphere of war engulfs Austria they witness ‘Crystal Night’ and the fear and panic that widely spread; she sets off alone on a journey through war and panic-stricken Europe only to find herself in a Faraway Land—strange, exotic and sleepy Australia where her life takes an unthinkable turn—“Freedom is another word for nothing left to lose.”

Branka Cubrilo writes in beautiful prose and captures historical settings with the eye of a painter. However, for me, it’s her ability to portray characters with a depth one doesn’t often encounter in literature that is so fascinating. Her characters are so real that, as a reader, you begin to connect with them on a level that transcends fiction. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant!

William Martin

Branka Cubrilo is a writer of no small ability and merit. Branka, from comments by fellow Australian scholars fluent in the field of English and Croatian language and literature, contributes to the contemporary literary scene with an invaluable ability to succinctly and poignantly express complex and comprehensive issues within interpersonal relationships and historical settings into readable and flowing prose. Her prose captures this expressive capacity to confront the reader with magnetic interest and enjoyment.

John Williams, Historian

Branka Cubrilo manages wordsmithing like a painter manipulates his colours.
Where Branka’s mastery is at its best are the ones filled with the bitumen, the sepias and the dark browns with depicting a de profundis typical of her ethos as a virtual historian fascinated by the dark side of the human experience.